Studies suggest that pairing rehabilitative motor therapy with vagus nerve stimulation may help individuals regain lost skills.
... [+]According to the CDC, someone in the United States experiences a stroke every forty seconds. Sometimes referred to as a “brain attack,” a stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted or reduced. The subsequent damage to affected brain tissues can generate significant deficits, especially in motor function. In fact, approximately 85% of stroke cases struggle to retain function in the upper extremities, resulting in reduced quality of life.
Depending on the degree of impairment, motor rehabilitation training led by a trained therapist is the most effective therapy for helping individuals regain lost skills. Traditional motor rehabilitation usually involves practicing repetitive task-oriented movements to stimulate motor learning. Unfortunately, for some, the benefits of these training sessions are not enough to overcome motor deficits.
The vagus nerve connects the brain to the rest of the body. Bidirectional communication enables the brain to send signals down to our muscles and receive sensory inputs from all around the body. As a result, the vagus nerve is involved in nearly every bodily function. Previously in this series on the vagus nerve, we reported on the benefits ofin reducing chronic inflammation by stimulating the brain to recruit anti-inflammatory factors.
Cutting-edge approaches to stimulating the vagus nerve offer a new non-invasive method for treating strokes. Known as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation, individuals simply wear removable earpieces that generate signals through the ear canal. The major benefit of this new technology is that it can be calibrated to deliver electrical stimulation precisely at the onset of movement.
Twenty participants that had experienced a stroke within the past six months were recruited for this study. The cohort was equally divided into two groups: the experimental group received low levels of electrical stimulation to both ears simultaneous with arm movement, while the others received stimulation at regular intervals regardless of movement.
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